Data source: Gina A. Zurlo, ed., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2026).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| affiliated | Followers of a religion enrolled and known to its leadership, usually with names written on rolls. |
| affiliated Christians | Church members: all persons belonging to or connected with organised churches, whose names are inscribed, written or entered on the churches’ books, records or rolls. |
| Catholics | All Christians in communion with the Church of Rome, also known as Roman Catholics. affiliated Catholics are defined here as baptised Catholics plus catechumens. |
| Charismatics | Baptised members affiliated to non-Pentecostal denominations who have entered into the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. |
| disaffiliated Christians | Formerly Christian persons; baptised Christians enumerated as affiliated by a majority or state-linked church but who have formally withdrawn or disaffiliated themselves from Christianity and now profess to be non-religious. |
| doubly-affiliated Christians | Persons who are baptised members of two or more denominations at the same time. |
| Evangelicals | affiliated church members calling themselves Evangelicals, or all persons belonging to Evangelical congregations, churches or denominations; characterised by commitment to personal religion (including new birth or personal conversion experience), reliance on Scripture as the only basis for faith and Christian living, emphasis on preaching and evangelism and usually on conservatism in theology. |
| members | affiliated (which usually means enrolled with names recorded) church members. |
| Roman Catholics | All Christians in communion with the Church of Rome. affiliated Roman Catholics are defined in this Encyclopedia as baptised Roman Catholics plus catechumens. |
| unaffiliated Christians | Persons professing allegiance and commitment to Christ but who have no church affiliation. |
Data on 18 categories of religion, including non-religious, by country, province, and people.
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Membership data, year begun, and rates of change.
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